[ad_1]
Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England, with the instruction to “stay home”, as they did during the first lockdown last March.
The prime minister revealed the action in an eight-minute television address on Monday night, after being told that COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly in all parts of the country due to the new variant of the coronavirus.
The public is asked to follow the new rules, which supersede the tier system, starting tonight.
The new lockdown in England, the third time a nationwide lockout has been introduced, is expected to last until mid-February.
England is entering a third national lockdown
People across the country are now required to stay home, with five exceptions:
- to work, if people are unable to work from home, such as those in the construction industry or key workers
- to buy basic necessities like food or medicine
- exercise once a day at a local location. This may include with someone other than someone’s home or bubble of support / child care
- to provide care or help to vulnerable people
- to attend medical appointments, receive medical care or a coronavirus test, or to flee the threat of harm or violence.
All elementary schools, high schools, and universities will go online learning starting tomorrow.
However, nurseries can stay open while bubbles of care and support will stay in place.
Those who are considered clinically vulnerable are urged to stay home as much as possible and not go to work, even if they cannot work from home.
They should only go outside to exercise or to attend medical appointments.
Johnson said the new variant of the coronavirus, which was considered between 50% and 70% more transmissible, was spreading at a “frustrating and alarming” rate.
The prime minister warned that this means that “there is much more chance of contracting the virus and transmitting it.”
“As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic,” he added.
In England alone, the number of COVID patients in hospitals is now more than 40% higher than the peak of the first wave of coronavirus infections last April, and the number of deaths increased by 20% during the week past, Johnson said.
The prime minister’s announcement came after the UK’s COVID alert level was raised from Level 4 to Level 5, the highest possible, for the first time.
In a stark warning, UK medical directors said there was a “material risk of the NHS in various areas being overwhelmed for the next 21 days” without further action.
Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon had previously announced that a nationwide lockdown would be introduced in Scotland starting at midnight tonight.
And the government of Wales announced that all schools and universities will move to online learning until January 18.
The UK recorded 58,784 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.
It is the seventh consecutive day that there have been more than 50,000 daily cases, while government figures also show that there have been 407 more deaths in the last 24 hours.
The House of Commons will be pulled out of its current recess to sit on Wednesday, so MPs can hear a statement from Johnson and vote on the new lockdown restrictions.
However, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, spokesman for the Commons, urged MPs to stay away from Westminster “unless absolutely necessary” and to participate virtually.
A new poll published by YouGov on Monday suggested that 79% of Britons support another lockdown for the UK, compared to 16% who are against a new national lockdown.
